how to write an opinion piece for the washington post

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Write and submitting an opinion piece.

how to write an opinion piece for the washington post

The mitteilung flip are one of the best-read sections regarding unlimited publication, inches print or online—often on par with front-page news. Also, some of who most attentive readers are decision makers: top people in government, corporations and nonprofit institutions. Appearing there can a prime way for the nonprofessional writer to get an valuable perspective up the popular sight. Here belongs a how-to guide. Ten topic to write an opinion piece people read

Which kind of piece?

At are two basic forms: the essential (often referred on as op-ed), and newsletter to and editor. (“Op-ed” comes from when show press were actually printed on paper, and outside fiction customarily appeared on that page OPposite staff-written EDitorials. The New York Times recently traded this old-fashioned term on “guest essay.”)

Opinion essays don’t normally comes from justly anyone; aforementioned writer usually has some special expertise or reliability on the issue. This strength include lawyers, ex-government officials or scientists. AMPERE piece may also gekommen out anyone with an especially telling oder powerful personen experience relating to the topic—for example, into article on homelessness until someone who has been homeless. They can run 400-1,200 terms. Some cause a tiny fee. What you needing to how about how an your article for An Washingtons Post, including the definition of one op-ed, tips for blade your argument plus examples.

Writing to the editor generally run just 100 to 150 words (or edited, even shorter). They are welcome upon lovely much anyone. Aber those with credentials often stand a better chance of bekommt published. Whoever you are, don’t waiting payment.

What are my opportunities?

Bulk publications want only pieces that play off the news of who last couple days, or the week. After that, your letter is a dead one. So, by most containers, is your op-ed. Act fast.

That said, something may must move on below the public radar that should be in one news, but has not showed. If you get something, her how something; an op-ed can search to break the news. Maybe an invisible threat for publicity safety, or an unobserved scientific discovery. Best, your topic desires be timely, but at the equivalent time have one long bracket life (i.e., the issue won’t be solves in a day or a month). Sometimes, yours may find a “peg” for thine piece: a holiday, anniversary, election, upcoming conference, report, a pending vote in Congress.

In all cases, depending on find you submit, calibrate expectations accordingly. Major publications, specialized big today like The New York Times , may receive hundreds out op-eds each day, and even more letters into this editor. They will use only a few. Inbound advertisements with less competition, your odds increase.

What makes ampere good op-ed?

It’s not plain your opinion. Thereto begins including technical, press make an argument based on facts. It is informed by logic—not emotion or ideology. You can educate absence public. And it’s not just one complaint; you must almost all services next stepping press possible solutions for the matter at handle.

Editors do shares ensure don’t just wow thee with expertise; they want pieces that become colorful, fast-moving and provocative—hallmarks of no good writing. A good op-ed is concise. It total hard. It musters graphic images, analogies and, when appropriate, fiction. E ditors see the opinion page as a place for advocacy, denunciations, argue and amazement. They wants to stimulate community discussion additionally drive public debate. Group want my to say, “Wow! Did you visit that op-ed today?” Writing or Submitting an Opinion Piece

What makes an good zuschriften to who leiter?

Same stuffing basically, except is a nutshell. OK, maybe a little more pure atrocity is reasonable. Fairly make your case, and make items fast.

How to write it ?

Whether op-ed or letter, your piece must unfold quickly. Focus on a single issue or key. Status what the issue is, and let us know where you rack. That should happen in an first short paragraph or couple. Following paragraphs—the method in this sandwich, so to speak—should back choose viewpoint with factual conversely first-hand information. Near the finalize, clearly restate your placement and issue a call to measure. Five Stages to Writing an Excellent Public Essay | Blog de Cristina

Some specifics to keep in mind:

  • Handle the reader’s attention in the first line. End with a strong, thought-provoking lead.
  • Die down hard set only side regarding and argument. Never equivocate.
  • Identification or acknowledge who counterargument; then disproof it with fakten.
  • Use active verbs; gramme o easy on adjectives furthermore adverbs.
  • Avoid clichés.
  • Avoid acronyms.
  • A void technical jargon.
  • Cite specific references plus easy-to-understand data.

 Next select: All authors need editors. You has show your piece for a collaborator or deuce inbound your range till see wenn they can poke holes in it. Conversely, is them know a nice writer, ask them how the play might be strengthened. You can also contact your institution’s communications clerical; help out is commonly part of their job. (But ghostwriting is not.) No guarantee someone bottle turn your junky screed into an influential masterpiece—but editing almost always helps.

Finally, include a catchy headline that conveys you message. These willingness help that editor take the thoughts quickly, and help buy your contribution. (However, expectations the publication to write its own headlining; that’s just how it works.) How in Write einem Opinion Piece (with Pictures) - wikiHow

Must someone sign off?

Are most workstation, there is no condition that you submit adenine slice to management— especially in academia. It is understood that you’re word for myself, not the institutions. Such said: thine page and connection will usually appear with your byline. So in so sense, you indirectly represent the honor and credibility von your institution. A controversial piece that is well articulated, well learn and respectful raises the profile of get institution. All remains rarely viewed as bad.    

Where and how to submit?

Everyone wants their number in The New York Times . Few will ever see it there. Unless they have something super-strong, consider another options. Some national general-interest outlets with a big demand for copy include The Mounds , CNN Opinion , Huffington Post, The Daily Beast and Slate . The Conversation areas int op-ed-type pieces by academics. Is your piece more regional or specialized? Check regional or specialty media. Local papers what always looking for a local angle on width issues. Publications that cover energy, law or other topics are of direction looking for that kind of piece.

If you or someone they know comes to know which opinion editor, you can weiterleiten immediately to him or dort. Otherwise, most publications have a web page telling you where toward sends, and their particular requirements. Don’t fret if your don’t have an inside line; copy true execute read those over-the-transom submissions. I wrote like article adenine phone of years ago go help humidity scientists with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes real published it on that Centre's home. From then, she has gained an life of your own and continues to be to most well-read article on that website by a land mileages.

Letters to the herausgeberinnen can often be mailed in the body to an receive. Most op-ed contributions are made into an emailed Word support. To who subject string in either box, that catchy titles mentioned earlier will come in handy. If it’s an op-ed, write the editor a short note in the email body telling her/him whichever the piece gets at, and why you’re who soul to getting the a. Include your contact info and, if you wish, ampere brief bio.  Opinion pages are one on the best-read parts of any publications. Here is wie in break into them.

In general, submit to one publication at an time. Regret, editors may take days or weeks until get back—and supposing it’s a refusal, you may no hear at all. ( New York Times policy: supposing you don’t hear to 3 period, you’re rejected.) Is you feelings you must submit for more than of, let the editors understand. But avoid submitting the same piece to two publications in the same geographical or readership market. Higher-prestige places will command that you offer in them exclusively.

Where can I find view guidance?

Below, some goody resources. The OpEd Project with particular had none only advisory, but a list of specific contacts and directions for enter pieces. Good luck!

The OpEd Project website  

As to Write an Op-ed, Step by Step   The Learning Service

Type Effective Op-eds   Duke School

Writing Alphabetic to the Editor     Community Toolbox

Letter Effective Write to who Editor     National Educational Association

Tips for Aspiring Op-Ed Writers   New York Times

And Now a Word From Op-Ed   New York Times

Related Posts

how to write an opinion piece for the washington post

              NO MORE BLOOD FOR OIL

       While war rages in Eastern Europe, life goes in elsewhere.  Yet it is highlight by fear furthermore

       resentment, especially in the Joined States, existing torn apart by political strife and this

       dread of yet another election bike, with all that it entails.  Understandably, the average

       person (however one defines which abstraction) is worried with inflation.  At the momentary,

       Americans are complaining vehemently about which high price of gasoline. Yet very slight has

       been said or written about how great (or low) those fuel prices are. When we compare that

       current price at the pump to that in several other countries, including our N American

       neighbors, Great Britannia, the European Union, press one three nations most affected by one

      war in Ukraine, the enormous disparity between our own situation and that facing people

      elsewhere becomes apparent.  Extrapolating from accurate and up-to-date your available 

      on the web, here are a table (adjusted for currency ethics, unity of measurement and annual

      household income) that makes those discrepancies as precise as they are unmistakable:*

                                   Gas Price    Unit Cost       Annual Income         Relative Cost    Purchase Power    Einem op-ed piece derives its choose from original having appeared opposite the ... strong, informed, and focused statement of the book switch the issue of ...

           U.S.               $4.84       1.00           $79,400              1/16,405           (100.00)                                                                                     U.K.               $3.70       0.76            $40,040               1/10,822            65.96                

           E.U.               $4.46        0.92            $44,091                1/9,886            60.26                        Canada            $6.20       1.28            $54,652                1/8,815            53.73         Forget everything yours were taught regarding writing essays and scientific papers, let's write a opinion piece (or op-ed, when journalists say) that people will actually want to read and talk about. Her are 10 tips to get you started.

              Poland            $22.22       4.59             $5,906               1/265.80             1.62                      Mexico          $103.17      21.32             $7,652                1/74.17             0.45        

           Ukraine         $145.17      29.99              $2,145                1/14.78            0.09         Ten tips for spell an opinion piece people actually read

           Russia          $672.79      139.00              $6,493                1/9.65             0.06        Do you must an interesting feeling to split? If yourself could express it clearly and persuasively inside an op-ed featured, her may reach millions a people, sway human, make minds and possible even reshape publicity policies. In this process, her may also earn awareness for yourself and yours department, choose for get effort than it […]

            *Currency Rates: 1 USD = $0.92 EU, $0.76 £, $1.28 CAN, $22.80 złoty, $20.92 pesos, $29.66 UAH, $133 roubles     Sources: globalpetrolprices.com; worldpopulationreview.com; statista.com; CNNbusiness.com (March 12, 2022)   Opinion featured are sometimes called "op-eds," and these articles allow readers of a journal to voices their thoughts and ideas on topics ranging from local happenings go international controversy. People often write opinion articles...

       By a sublime yet tragic irony, Russia, that field oil and natural gas reserves are three times                larger is those of the United States, got by far the highest petroleum prices in which world. As Step 2. Top tips for writing an opinion essay · Introduction: Introduce the topic and present your opinion. Say whether you agree or clash with ...

      Ukraine is suffering from the Russian onslaught, Russians are suffering from the actions away theirs

      government with a scale we can scarcely imagine.  Adjusted for income levels, the gap between

      both countries furthermore their more affluent counterparts becomes astronomical.  Mexico, although

      still classed as a developing nation, is much better off than or one; Poland, though besieged

      by refugees and threatened by raid, is downright wealthy compared to the other three.  As 

     the how power index shows, America enjoys a standard of living that (in oil oil terms)

     is 1,667 times higher than Russia, 1,111 times that of Ukraine, and 222 times that of Mexico, an

     oil producing nation in its own right.  That performs no imply that we have no right to object to an

    increase in gas prizes, or that we should be grateful for what we have, and none make low about

    the conditions were face, both as individuals additionally as a society.  It does mean that wee must put such

    matters for global prospective, and that it is not becoming for us to deal beleaguered, placement when, or

   oppressed, when our situation is not so much one major hardship while it is a minor inconvenience, oder

   a merely side effect concerning an underlying economic disease, caused by the holy alliance betw oil

   cartels and political operatives, East and West.  The pandemic started two year forward; yet OPEC

   is nearly halve a century old, and shows nope symbols of abating, despite the routine lip service paid to

   alternative energized sources, environmental regulations, and an end to domestic drilling, both on

   land press off-shore.  “Energy independence” is neither an unattainable paragon nor an inducement

  to promote the use of fossil fuels.  But if Europe relies on Russian oil, what does Russia rely on? 

  And for how longs can it withstand the misery and suffering that computers has inflicted on itself, let alone

  those whom she failed to boor into submission?  Who will dice first—the oligarch, the imperialist,

  or the global monopolist?  And what will pay one exorbitant price, let stand, clean up the whole mess?

  Meanwhile. the U.S. meanings nearly half (48%) of its oil, not from Venezuela other the Middle East

  but from Canada, which your by over 90% of their oil exports.  How oblong can we continues

  deceiving ourselves about why trucker convoys swarmed after Ottawa?  Or via the role that

  Athabascan sands (in the canadian of Alberta) play in fiscal diplomacy, never spirit the Alaska 

  pipeline? And methods long capacity either Russia or the United States remain superpowers, while mired

  in myths, misconceptions and monarchy, while everyone with the land is caught in adenine vise, even

  as they struggle to survive?  Blaming the villain (Putin) is easy; rooting outwards economic causes 

  and human consequences of what licenses for domestic as well as foreign policy is much harder.

 [cf. Vaclav Smil, Energization and Civilization: A History (Cambridge, MA, 2017); Richard Rhodes, 

 Energy: A Human History (New York, 2018); R. Buckminster Fuller, Kritiker Path (New York,

  1981).  Fuller’s warnings are the apt now as they endured four decades ago, only far more urgent].

  Yet it required be read, or the world will lose in fire, losing sein grip while clinging to illusions.

  As Adam Smith prophesied set the eve of the Habitant Revolution, “this empire [Great Britain]

  . . . has hitherto existed in imagination only . . . it is surely now time that our regierungsmitglieder should either

 realize this gilded dream . . . or that they should waken from it yourselves, and endeavour to

 awaken the people.  If the project cannot be completed, it ought at be given up” (The Assets

 of Nations [1776], “Of Public Debts,” V.3. ad fin.; edd. Edwin Cannan [1904], new pref. George J. 

 Stigler (Chicago, 1976), Vol, II, 486).  If were don’t change our ways, eradication desires be on lot—

 our fossils will tell aforementioned tarry tale, as it did for all the dinosaurs who once ruled the earth.

     

Time

I think Putting will go downhill in history as a waster of youthful russian life also a barbarian and for nothing it must not like to russian people ether like thay other suffer mothers losing sons wives losing husband children losing father’s how an a*%*#h##&£#_

Dennis Rohatyn

That goes without verb, yet it does nothing on change the situation. It also ignores the fact that none his friends nor his foes among the nations in the worlds are any less ashamed of creating and perpetuating the misery and suffering which you rightly condemn. Rant is neither helpful neither illuminating. As Sam Rayburn used to say, “you can always tell a man to go up hell, but making his go there is another tale entirely.” When you find the words to make that happen, let me perceive.

how to write an opinion piece for the washington post

Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Developed in collaboration with Dr. Dan Pomeroy, manager of MIT’s International Policy Lab .

Criteria for success

A successful op-ed…

  • Provides a strong, provocative opinion
  • Focuses on a clear, single issue
  • Is both important and timely
  • Supplies facts and anecdotes that support the main message
  • Avoids unnecessary technical jargon
  • Leaves the reader a memorable take-away message

Structure diagram

Identify your purpose.

The opinion pages in newspapers and magazines (and their equivalent in online outlets) are often among the best-read sections of a publication. As such, writing an opinion piece is an opportunity to reach a massive audience and influence the conversation of the general public. Further, decision-makers also see these opinions; politicians and their staff track opinion editorials, as do executives and higher-ups at companies, nonprofits, and think tanks. Thus, an op-ed provides two mechanisms for influencing public policy: indirectly by placing an issue for the public to consider, and directly by appealing to these decision-makers.

As a researcher at MIT, you’re an expert in your field at a highly respected institution. You’re a prime candidate to write an op-ed, particularly on topics that influence or are influenced by your research projects, program, institution, field – or, importantly, your professional and personal experiences. Newspaper and magazine editors want strong opinion pieces from experts whom their readers will consider both highly credible and passionate about a topic. And you want to write an op-ed because it can magnify the societal impact of your work and field.

Analyze your audience

The readership of news outlets varies significantly, e.g., the NY Times demographic is quite different than that of the Kansas City Star. To even get past the paper’s editor, your piece needs to cover a topic that’s important to the paper’s readers. Then to be effective, you need to connect with those readers (or at least the ones important to your strategic goal). You can appeal to their values, ethics, emotions, etc.

For example, if you’re writing an op-ed advocating for science funding and targeting a paper with a conservative audience, you can appeal to their readers’ values and ethics by focusing on how scientific research benefits their local industries. As another example, if you’re writing an op-ed on the importance of net neutrality, you can immediately appeal to your readers’ emotions by reminding them how infuriating it can be to deal with internet service providers.

Plan your writing process

Prior to starting the writing process, consider the following questions that will help direct the content and style of your op-ed.

Show your passion with descriptive language and narrative.

Don’t use an academic argument: Regulations to reduce mercury are needed to protect tribal populations because of higher fish intake from subsistence fishing and unique cultural practices.

Do use a compelling story: In the rainy Pacific Northwest, tribal populations spend much of their time on boats hunting swordfish, shark, and king mackerel to feed their families and for use in cultural rituals. Unfortunately, mercury levels in these fish are putting the health and safety of their community in serious jeopardy. The federal government needs to take vulnerable populations like this into account when developing mercury regulations.

Use active voice (i.e. active verbs).

Active: This experience convinced me that we need to support science.

Passive: I was convinced by this experience that we need to support science.

Turn numbers or statistics into specific and easy-to-understand references or examples.

Difficult to understand: Since the pre-vaccination era, the estimated annual morbidity rate in the U.S. decreased from 530,000 to 70.

Easy to understand: Thanks to vaccines, the measles virus that used to infect hundreds of thousands of Americans each year is now virtually eliminated.

Avoid jargon and acronyms

Jargon-filled: Nonintrusive load monitors can disaggregate total energy use by appliance.

Jargon-less: Advanced smart meters can tell you how much energy each of your appliances use.

Avoid clichés – they dilute your message

Examples:  “It’s not rocket science,” “is the holy grail,” “avoid like the plague”

Submitting Your Piece

Prior to submitting your piece, make sure the op-ed meets your target paper’s formatting requirements (word length, etc.) and read their submission instructions. As a general rule, only submit your op-ed to one publication at a time. If your piece is extremely timely, you can provide a time limit for consideration in your cover letter, after which you plan to submit the op-ed to another paper.

When submitting, the body of the email should contain a succinct paragraph establishing why the issue is important, why their readers care, and why your expertise and/or experiences qualify you to write this piece. After this paragraph, provide a brief (1-3 sentences) bio, your contact information (phone number, email address, and mailing address), and the wordcount of the piece (both the full length and length including the title and bio).

An example pitch is provided below.

After submitting, follow-up with a phone call to the editor. Be prepared to pitch it directly as they may have missed the email. Leave a message if he or she does not answer. Do not incessantly hound them, but it is ok to send follow up emails or phone calls if you have not heard back after a couple days.

If you do not hear back from the editor in 10 days or your op-ed is rejected outright, try another paper, or you can shorten it and resubmit your piece as a letter to the editor (might be a different editor). While shorter, letters are still very visible.

Example Pitch

I’d like to submit an opinion piece on the March for Science happening next Saturday 4/22.

I am a CT native, PhD physicist, and currently manage Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s International Policy Lab. The goal of this piece is to explain why, as a scientist, I am joining the March for Science, how science impacts CT, and to urge others to join. I am hoping it can be placed this weekend or sometime next week, just ahead of the March.

The piece is exclusive at 641 text/691 with title and bio notes. Happy to make any needed edits.

Home address: XXX Phone: YYY

Thank you for your consideration,

-Dan [op-ed pasted below and attached]

Further Resources

  • Writing an Op-Ed – From the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), this article provides key points to consider when writing an op-ed as well as three examples of science focused op-eds.  The article is a part of their larger Communication Toolkit provided under the AAAS Center for Public Engagement with Science & Technology Program.
  • Op-Ed Writing: It’s OK to Argue for Something by Brooke Smith & Sarah Sunu from COMPASS.  In addition to providing tips and resources for writing op-eds, the authors also link to several scientist-authored op-eds featuring a wide variety of arguments.
  • Ten Steps to Writing an Op-Ed by Joanne Omang, free-lance writer and former Washington Post reporter. Provides insight into the necessary components of an op-ed from an editor’s perspective along with her “ten steps” you should consider prior to writing your op-ed.
  • Op-Ed and You by Trish Hall, Senior Editor, New York Times. Provides an editor’s perspective on “what makes the cut” out of the “flood” of op-eds submitted to the New York Times every day.
  • Writing Op-Eds – From the Union of Concerned Scientists, this article provides information on the basic structure of op-eds and gives concrete tips towards optimizing your message and improving your chances of having your piece placed.
  • The Op-Ed Project – Started as a social venture aiming to increase the number of op-eds from women and other underrepresented experts. The website provides tips for writing an op-ed , guidelines for pitching your op-ed to an editor , and information on op-ed submittals to leading news publications .

Resources and Annotated Examples

Annotated example 1.

Marcel Bruchez on the March for Science (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) 117 KB

Annotated Example 2

Eric Lander and Eric Schmidt on investing in scientific research (Washington Post) 103 KB

Annotated Example 3

Maria T. Zuber on coal emissions (Washington Post) 100 KB

Media: Op-Eds

Op-eds provide an opportunity for you to speak directly to the public and bring your experience, ideas, analyses, and insights to a broad readership. The purpose, audience, structure, submission process, and publication process for op-eds are all very different than for your scholarly works.

This page provides information on how to write and submit your op-ed and includes the following sections:

Before You Start

Writing your op-ed, submitting your op-ed, publication process, examples from the georgetown faculty.

Georgetown’s Office of Strategic Communications assists and advises all members of the university community interested in working with the media. Contact the Office at 202-687-4328 or [email protected] .

If you have questions on publishing or promoting your work, contact [email protected] .

The most important element of a successful op-ed is your topic. Your op-ed should contain a fresh viewpoint and should not repeat ideas that have already appeared on the publication’s news or opinion pages. Many op-eds voice an opinion on a topic in the news in order to promote public discourse on the issue and inform public policy. Other op-eds are written to bring an issue to the attention of readers that they don’t know about or haven’t considered from your perspective.  

Be sure you can answer the following questions about your op-ed before you begin writing:

  • What do you have to say that is new and compelling so that your op-ed will attract the attention of readers and promote discussion and debate on your topic?
  • What special knowledge, expertise, or personal experience do you have that will make your piece stand out from others who are writing on the same topic?
  • What supporting facts, data, quotations, or personal experience do you have to support your opinion?
  • Is there an event in the news, an upcoming event, or the anniversary of an event that can be tied to the topic of your op-ed? This will increase your chances of catching the attention of op-ed editors. If not, considering submitting your op-ed at a slower time of year, such as late August or December.

One of the best ways to prepare to write an op-ed is to read recent op-eds in leading national newspapers and analyze how they are written. What topics are chosen? What special expertise or experience does the author have? How are the opinions stated? How is the argument made and what evidence is used to support the thesis? (Click here for information on educational access to the New York Times , Washington Post , and Wall Street Journal )

Before you begin writing, define exactly what you hope to achieve with your op-ed. One editor suggests that if you can’t sum up your position in 10 words or less, then you haven't yet “nailed down what you want to say.” ( Hartford Courant )

John Timpane, former Commentary page editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer , in a talk at the American Association for the Advancement of Science , listed the three categories of op-eds he was most likely to publish:

  • Why something is or is not good, true, or worthy
  • Look what happened and here’s why
  • Make predictions or issue warnings

The length and style of your op-ed will be very different from your academic writing. (Click here for information on educational access to the New York Times , Washington Post , and Wall Street Journal to see the style and voice used by successful op-ed writers.)

  • Check a publication's guidelines before submission for word limits. Many newspaper op-eds are limited to 700-800 words. Some also publish opinion pieces that are longer or shorter, so be sure to check each publication’s guidelines.
  • Write in plain English for readers who are not experts in your field.
  • Open with a sentence that will capture the attention of readers.
  • Clearly state the issue and your thesis in the opening paragraph. “You have no more than 10 seconds to hook a busy reader. Just get to the point and convince the reader that it’s worth his or her valuable time to continue.” ( How to Write an Op-Ed Article, Duke University)
  • Use your research and personal experience as persuasive evidence to support your opinion.
  • Fact-check your own work before submitting it. If accepted, it will be fact-checked again, but your credibility will be higher with your editor if you submit your op-ed without errors or misrepresentations in your facts or quotations. It is better to leave a blank space to fill in later than to include incorrect information.
  • Acknowledge opposing views and state reasons why they are wrong.
  • In your final paragraph, clearly state your conclusion.

Choosing a Publication

The New York Times , Washington Post , and Wall Street Journal are all top choices for op-ed submissions, and numerous Georgetown faculty have published op-eds in these newspapers. However, there is a lot of competition for space on the opinion pages of these leading national newspaper. Editors may receive 100 or more submissions a day, yet usually have space for only 2-3 pieces from outside contributors. Since editors also solicit op-eds from experts on topics of interest to them, the number of unsolicited op-eds that can be published is further reduced.

Because it is highly competitive to get published in a national newspaper, you should also consider other newspapers and websites that publish opinion pieces. Look at publications that people who care about your topic are likely to read, including subject-oriented websites and local or regional newspapers where residents may be particularly interested in your issue.

One great option for placing your op-ed is with your hometown newspaper or a smaller DC newspaper, such as the Washington Examiner or other Washington newspapers . You can also consider online sites for your op-eds and articles. Consider some of the following:

  • ANGLE  
  • The Conversation  
  • The Daily Beast
  • Epoch Times
  • Huffington Post  
  • Medium  
  • Monkey Cage
  • PostEverything

For detailed information about other publications you might consider, take a look at these lists:

  • The Op-Ed Project provides information for over 100 online and print publications , updated as of August 2016.
  • Columbia University’s Earth Institute has an April 2010 document listing 101 U.S. newspapers by circulation with op-ed submission information (list begins on p. 5 of the document).

If you are not sure where to submit your piece, consider sending an email message with a short description of yourself and your proposed piece to the op-ed editor asking whether it is a topic that would be of interest. If your op-ed is not accepted by your first-choice publication, consider whether it might be a better fit for a different publication or whether revising or refocusing your draft would make it a stronger piece.

Submission Process

Op-eds are usually submitted as completed articles and not proposals and should be submitted to only one publication at a time. Do not submit anything that has been previously published either online or in print.

From the dozens to hundreds of submissions on a given day, editors will look for op-eds that offer a new, different, and unique perspective on the news that would be of interest to readers. Decisions to publish op-eds are made quickly, usually within a week or less, and for hot topics, an op-ed may be published within hours of a newsworthy event. Occasionally, however, an interesting piece may be held by the publication for several months before publication.

You will not get a response from an editor unless your piece is being considered for publication. If an editor contacts you with interest in your op-ed, respond immediately! Newspapers run on tight deadlines, so your prompt response to an editor’s inquiry is critical. Most op-eds are not published as initially submitted, so you should expect to make revisions in consultation with your editor.

Your editor will not ask you to change your opinion on your topic but may suggest changes for clarity, flow, style, grammar, and length. You will be given the opportunity to approve all changes before your op-ed is published. If you do not agree with the changes, you can work with your editor to find a mutually agreeable solution, or, if that is not possible, it is always an option to take back your article and submit it to a different publication.

Read more about what happens in the editing process from a New York Times editor in What We Talk About When We Talk About Editing .

After Publication

Once you have published your op-ed and have a link to it, you can distribute it widely through your GUFaculty360 page, personal webpage, Twitter, Facebook, departmental web pages, and blogs.

New York Times

  • My Mother Speaks Through M e by Deborah Tannen, Professor of Linguistics (September 19, 2017)
  • The Practical Case for Parole for Violent Offenders by Marc Morjé Howard, Professor of Government and Law (August 8, 2017)

Washington Post

  • Block Grants Would Be a Disaster. Here’s How We Know. , Peter Edelman, Professor of Law and Public Policy (September 22, 2017)
  • Leaks Are Actually the Lifeblood of American Democracy , Sanford J. Ungar, Director, Free Speech Project (August 28, 2017)
  • And Now a Word From Op-Ed , New York Times (February 1, 2004)
  • How to Write an Op-Ed Article , Duke University
  • How to Write an Op-Ed or Column , Harvard Kennedy School Communications Program
  • How to Write an Opinion Essay and Why You Should Do It Now , Phi Delta Kappan (September 2014)
  • Op-Ed and You , New York Times (October 13, 2013)
  • The Op-Ed Project hosts workshops and seminars on publishing op-eds for a fee. The Project’s Op-Ed Basics pages are available for anyone to read for free.
  • Tips for Aspiring Op-Ed Writers , New York Times (August 25, 2017)
  • Writing and Submitting an Opinion Piece , Columbia School of Journalism

Introduction  / Op-Eds /  Interviews / Blogs /  Using Twitter  / Podcasts

America's Future

August 30, 2022

Want to Advocate? Write and Publish Your Opinion Piece

By: Ericka Andersen

One of the most powerful ways to make your voice heard in today’s noisy culture? Get published on a platform with a vast audience. 

You can start with a letter to the editor, but those aren’t as widely read as opinion pieces. The secret is to know and understand exactly how to gain the right editor’s attention for your very good idea. 

It can be a big task, and take some practice, but I believe anyone can get their work published with the right idea and tactics. You may have an especially good shot if you start somewhere local and smaller.

Before starting to publish my work several years ago, I didn’t think it was possible to publish on a big scale. Now that I’ve been on the writing circuit for a number of years, I want to encourage those who want to write to give it a shot. 

Far larger than your personal social media following, publishing an op/ed gives you credibility and the ability to reach an audience you never would have otherwise. It can get people buzzing about an issue you care about and that can really matter when you are hoping to make a difference. 

The most important part of this process is how you pitch the article to an editor. The pitch is the email you send to an editor with your idea. But it’s not just any email — it has to be done in a bit of a structured way to ensure you get their attention.

A few small tips to get you started:

Find the right editor.

Make sure you seek out the correct section editor of the place you want to write.

Ensure your idea is timely .

How does it relate to trending news?

Have the authority to write it.

How are you personally connected or an expert on the subject matter?

Retain solid evidence to back up your argument.

Statistics and examples are necessary.

Subject lines matter.

When pitching, I recommend a subject line that states “PITCH” or “Freelance Pitch” at the start and then a brief, catchy sentence with your idea.

If you have a dream of making a difference with your writing, opinion pieces are a fantastic way to start doing that. I want others to know they can speak up and advocate for the issues they care about most as well. 

With the things I’ve learned, I’ve been able to publish in the Wall Street Journal , the New York Times , the Washington Post , the New York Post , Christianity Today and many more. Can you imagine yourself writing about the things you care about most? I hope you’ll consider giving it a go. 

I’ve got a fun Instagram account, @PitchAndPublish , if you are interested in learning more about it. I’d love to hear from you, where you’d like to publish and answer questions about how to make it happen. 

Ericka Andersen

Ericka Andersen is a freelance writer and digital media marketing professional. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post.

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The Ultimate Guide to Writing For The Washington Post

how to write an opinion piece for the washington post

The Washington Post is in some ways a very traditional newspaper-style publication, and in other ways it is refreshingly modern.

Often known as WaPo, the Washington Post started life as a newspaper in 1877. Throughout the decades, it has evolved to keep up with the times. These days, as of about 2013, the publication is owned by a company that itself is owned by Jeff Bezos, making it part of the tertiary empire of data controlled by the Amazon mastermind.

Unlike many of the other publications I cover on this site – like The Guardian or Business Insider – The Washington Post makes their submission process fairly transparent. You can write several different kinds of content and pitch it to different sections, and have several good avenues for getting your credit on their pages.

First Up: Read the Site

Before you even begin trying to write a pitch or an article for WaPo, the first thing you should be doing is reading the site. The Washington Post is a pretty huge publication, covering hundreds of articles a day on a wide variety of topics, so you have your homework cut out for you.

I’m not telling you to read everything in the newspaper, of course. If you’re in Washington DC and you can read the paper version each day, that’s fine. I wouldn’t call it necessary, but it can give you a good idea of what the top-level content is and what they most want to cover.

No, what you should do is look through the huge list of categories the site covers, and find those that most fit with your content. For many of you, I assume that’s going to be in the tech, business, lifestyle, or opinions sections. Other sections, like photography, politics, sports, or arts can be useful targets as well. Some, like obituaries, crosswords, podcasts, and national news are unlikely to be good targets.

Categories on The Washington Post

Remember that the Washington Post is a newspaper with a large staff of their own journalists. Whenever I write a post about how to pitch content to a newspaper, the first thing I mention is that you aren’t going to fit in with or replace an existing journalist. The turnaround time it takes to receive your pitch, vet you as an author, and get a post written is such that trying to cover breaking news is just not going to happen. Staff writers will be able to cover it better than you can, faster than you can. By the time the editors even look at your pitch, chances are good the current event you’re covering is not current anymore.

Let’s step a way from politics and news, then, and look at a section you might consider pitching: business. The Washington Post’s organizational structure works like a category feed. You have the Business section, and within it you have four sub-sections: Health Care, Leadership, Personal Finance, and Small Business. If you click the main Business headline , you’ll see content from all of those sections, as well as a flag at the top indicating that the business section is in partnership with Bloomberg.

Washington Post Business Category

You might also notice that a good portion of the business-related content is still political in nature. This is going to be the case pretty much everywhere, because the Post is based in DC, and DC is the capitol of political importance. So you see business articles covering, say, Trump’s trade war, while also seeing posts about Netflix pricing and robotic “employees” at grocery stores .

Spend some time – a few weeks at minimum – reading content in the section you want to pitch. Pay attention to a few things.

  • When a post is political, what angle does it take? Does it lean more liberal or conservative? Is it explicit, or simply biased?
  • How much fact and how many sources are cited in the content? Are you expected to trust the author’s expertise, or read up further if you’re concerned?
  • What is the scope of the topics covered? Is it largely about global issues, national issues, or do local issues crop up as well?
  • What is the tone, perspective, and voice of the content? Should you write in a more personal style, or keep your content impersonal and factual?

One thing you may want to check is whether or not the content is syndicated. For example, virtually everything in the Small Business section is 1) not actually about small businesses, and 2) syndicated from Bloomberg. The chances of you being able to submit content to that section are fairly slim.

Eventually you’ll gain a feel for the kind of content published on the Washington Post and you’ll be ready to start laying the groundwork for publication.

Developing a Frame of Mind

While reading content, you should be formulating ideas that you may be able to pitch. This is good; write those ideas down and develop them into simple pitches.  Even if they aren’t accepted at WaPo, you may be able to re-use them elsewhere later.

Prepare yourself for rejection. You won’t be able to submit a single pitch and get right in, especially if you don’t have industry contacts or a great reputation. Most likely, you’re going to end up facing several rejections before you hit upon something the editors like.

Pitch Denied

Try to develop topics that are in some way slightly controversial. I’m not saying you should write a post about how murder is actually a good thing, though. Think of a topic that subverts the usual discussion around that topic, or that brings light to an issue that plagues your industry in a unique way. A bog-standard report on a common industry topic just won’t cut it.

Read the Guidelines

At some point, you always need to track down whatever guidelines a site has for submission ahead of time.

Submission Guidelines

Here’s the page for the Washington Post . Basically:

  • Don’t submit anything that’s inappropriate. No violence, no libel, no pornography, no violations of laws or privacy, no copyright violations, and so on. Importantly, no solicitation, no advertising, and no misrepresentation of your affiliations.
  • You give WaPo the rights to use content you submit.

It’s all fairly standard, and you can read through the whole thing in a few minutes. If you’ve submitted content to any site before, it’s pretty much the same stuff you’ve seen everywhere.

You should also read their rules about ethics and conflicts of interest. Most of this is aimed at journalists rather than freelance contributors, but it’s still worth giving a look, just in case.

Picking a Submission Method

There are several ways you can submit content and have it show up on the Washington Post itself. Let’s go over each of them.

First up, you have the paid experience. The Washington Post has something called BrandStudio , which is their paid advertising platform. You can become an advertiser and create immersive content that is put in front of the WaPo audience. Of course, it’s expensive, and it’s probably out of reach for most of you. If you have a heck of an advertising budget – and don’t mind paying for sponsored content rather than hoping for a free guest post – you can look into this option.

Brand Studio

Next, you can submit a correction. Now, this is a bit of a backdoor strategy and it’s very much not guaranteed to work. Corrections in a newspaper are generally used to correct facts, like a mis-quote, the wrong date for an event, or an incorrect attribution.

Instead, you can find a controversial article in your industry and submit a correction on the factual basis of the article premise. If you’re in luck, the editor will invite you to write your own perspective on the issue. Most of the time, though, you just won’t be given the time of day.

Submit a Correction

A third option is to submit a press release . Obviously, a press release is very different from a guest post, but a press release is also something that should go through its own channels. Indeed, each department has its own process for handling press releases, so you need to call and talk to the people in that department specifically.

A probably better option is to submit a letter to the editor . A letter to the editor is a public piece ostensibly aimed at the editor, but really aimed at the audience of the publication. It’s not quite a blog post; it’s more aimed at personal opinions and experiences from people who have a position worth telling. Often, letters to the editor are used as a way to show perspectives the mainline journalists won’t, though that’s not always a good thing.

Letter to the Editor

The process for submitting a letter is to actually submit a letter. They have an email address specifically for them. They prefer letters that are very short, under 200 words, that are unique and that are based on an existing published piece on the site. Think of it like an expansive blog comment.

Your next option is to submit an op-ed . An op-ed is a story usually positioned across – or on the opposite page – from the editorials section in the paper itself. Online, it’s more of an essay from an outside contributor that is supported by facts and evidence. You know, standard blog post stuff for flagship content. You’re not thinking of writing non-flagship content for a major publication, are you?

Op-eds on WaPo are limited to about 800 words. They only look at completed articles, not pitches, and they don’t give feedback. They ignore anything that’s not under your real name, so make sure you’re disclosing who you are. Disclose any financial or business ties you have with the subject as well.

Another option may be to submit a local opinion essay . I’m hesitant to suggest this one because I’m not sure whether this form is still in use or if it just goes to a dead inbox. Still, it might be worth giving a shot. Unlike other contact methods, this one has a form to fill out instead of an email address to contact.

Opinion Essay

The Washington Post also maintains a talent network. You can create a profile here . Not all profiles are accepted, though, so make sure to put your best foot forward.

How does the talent network work? Basically, when tips or pitches come in that no one is willing or has the time to write, editors will assign it to someone with the relevant expertise within the talent network. You do the research and write the post, and they publish it. They even pay you for your contribution! Often times, if you pitch a guest post through another means and are accepted, you will also be invited to apply to the talent network with a near-guaranteed acceptance. This can open you up to a lot of future posting opportunities, as well as the money.

On top of all of this – you see why I’m liking WaPo compared to some of the harder to contact publications? – you can actually just apply for a freelance writer job with the Washington Post. They post jobs on this page regularly, and they occasionally pick from this pool. This isn’t a great option if you just want a guest post, though, so I don’t really recommend it.

As a final option, you can do the usual process I recommend for most sites. Track down the managing or deputy editors for the section you want to write for, and do the whole influencer networking thing. Follow them on Twitter, engage with them off of WaPo, and familiarize yourself with their desires. Pitch your content directly to them, and you’ll have a better chance of getting accepted.

With all of these different options available to you, how can you possibly lose?

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how to write an opinion piece for the washington post

Betty Schwimmer

Thank you! Submission guidelines to Perspective and Inspirations? How to find out who is in charge of each section? Thanks.

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FREELANCE COMMUNITY

  • Op-Ed Writing: 10 Markets That Pay Freelancers for Views & Opinions

Check out these 10 op-ed writing markets to share your point of view and get paid for it.

Meet op-ed writer and freelance journalist cat woods, 1. al jazeera, 2. cnn opinion, 3. financial times, 4. la times, 5. new york times, 8. sydney morning herald, 10. the washington post, a few more tips about op-ed writing.

Paid Op-Ed Markets for Writers. Makealivingwriting.com

Ever have an idea for an op-ed?

If your mind jumps to the old-school newspaper section with editorials, opinion pieces, and letters to the editor, you’re probably thinking it’s a waste of time.

But writing op-ed pieces is still a thing. And if you know where to look, the right markets pay well.

Getting paid $300 to $1,500 for opinion pieces, essays, and editorials is still happening.

Let the ideas begin to percolate…

Maybe you’ve learned a few lessons at the School of Hard Knocks.

Maybe you’ve got some insight, views, expertise, or opinions about issues in your niche.

Or maybe some comment on social media is so hot, you’ve got to take a stand.

Chances are pretty good you’ve got an opinion piece in you worth writing.

Op-Ed Writing: Cat Woods

When Australia-based op-ed writer and freelance journalist Cat Woods saw celebrity trainer Jillian Michaels light up the Twittersphere with a body-shaming comment about pop singer Lizzo, the idea for an editorial began to form.

It was timely. It was trending on social media. And she had her own take on the issue.

So she pitched the idea and landed an op-ed assignment on spec. Then got paid when The Sydney Morning Herald published her piece, We need to celebrate female artists for their work not their bodies . She’s cashed in on other op-ed writing opportunities, too.

Have you read, seen or heard something that you have a strong opinion on, and some credentials to justify your opinion being published? If so, there’s opportunities to air your opinion and to be paid for it. Check out these 10 publications that pay writers for op-eds.

Al Jazeera receives an exceptional number of pitches weekly. Typically they feature op-eds by experts and highly experienced writers. Nadim Asrar is a deputy editor for Al Jazeera and his Twitter is @aqliyat .

Tip: Following the opinion site or the opinions editor of the publication you’re interested in writing for on social media is a great way to get a sense of the type of content they prefer and see callouts for pitches or submissions.

Pays: $500 per 600-word piece, according to The Op-Ed Project .

CNN Opinion accepts submissions of original, exclusive op-eds on topics relevant to current news and affairs. You’ll find opinion pieces on things like the presidential primaries, Oscar award speeches, police and community clashes in New York, and much more.

Tip: Don’t just submit an idea for an op-ed. Write the whole piece at around 600 to 800 words. Include a brief bio, and any unique details about your experience, credentials, or connection to the subject you’re writing about. FYI, if your piece gets accepted, CNN gets exclusive rights.

Pays: $400 per 800-word op-ed piece, according to Who Pays Writers

Got an opinion, personal story, or take on a financial topic, money matters, or the global economy? Pitch an op-ed idea to Financial Times editor Brooke Masters ( @brookeamasters ).

“Readers value the FT for its brevity. So you have at most 800 words, just enough to make a persuasive case for a focused point. Be a miniaturist, not a landscape painter.” Brooke Masters

Tip: If you don’t hear back within three business days, your pitch didn’t make the cut. Give it an update and submit your op-ed to another publication.

Pays: Depends on assignment

The Los Angeles Times accepts opinion articles on spec for just about any subject. For example, they’ve published trending opinion pieces about cannabis farming in California, state and national political issues, raising insurance rates on speeding drivers to protect pedestrians, and of course, The Oscars.

Tip:  Like a lot of op-ed assignments, pitch the  LA Times by writing your complete op-ed on spec. Most op-eds are around 750 to 1,200 words. The guidelines recommend sending your pitch to [email protected] . But here’s another option…the Editorial Page Editor is Nicholas Goldberg .

The New York Times accepts opinion editorials for the daily print page, online, the Sunday Review, the International edition and seasonal series. Sure, The NYT has its own roster of regular columnists. But it also publishes op-eds from freelancers on a wide range of topics like politics, pop culture, health, science, lifestyle, and more.

Tip:  Submit a complete op-ed piece that’s around 400 to 1,200 words, instead of just pitching an idea. Also review the rest of the guidelines, which recommend sending your pitch to [email protected] . FYI…the Editorial Page Editor for  The NYT is Kathleen Kingsbury ( @katiekings ).

Pays: $600 to $700 for op-eds, according to The Op-Ed Project .

While newspapers have been dying a slow and painful death for more than a decade, Slate is one of a handful of online news and opinion sites that’s managed to reach an international audience with its own slant on covering news, events, and issues.

Tip: Have an op-ed idea for Slate ? Study the guidelines and pitch your op-ed idea, highlighting your main points. Categories include culture, human interest, news/politics, technology, business, health and science, and sports . Choose the correct editor from the bottom of this list .

Pays: $300 for a 1,000 to 2,000-word op-ed, according to The Web Writer Spotlight

The Sun is a daily print and online newspaper published in the United Kingdom and Ireland, that publishes a wide range of op-eds.

Tip: The hotter the topic, the more likely you’ll get a bite for your complete op-ed. Just take a look at examples on the site about Gwyneth Paltrow on Netflix, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Kirk Douglas fandom, and all kinds of political issues. If accepted, expect heavy editing before publishing.

And if that’s not enough buzz, blogger and journalist Victoria Newton is editor for The Sun .

Pays: $600 for a 2,000 to 4,000 word op-ed or personal essay, according to Web Writers Spotlight

You don’t need to be from Australia to pitch an op-ed for The Sydney Morning Herald . But knowing a little about issues, current events, and other news from Down Under will only help you appeal to editors.

When Cat Woods pitched  The Sydney Morning Herald  the op-ed about the Michaes v. Lizzo incident in 2020, it was an international issue unfolding on social media. But she did mention Australia’s efforts to battle its brushfires.

Tip: When you pitch editors an op-ed idea, pointing to previous work that demonstrates your ability to write will be to your advantage. Typically, op-eds relating directly to current news are given priority. Julie Lewis ( @JLewisnthenews ) is the opinion editor for The Sydney Morning News.

Pays: Approximately $0.34/per word U.S., up to 800 words

Take a look at the current opinion page of TIME , and you’ll find a mix of national and international op-eds about human rights, politics, technology, history, and more.

Tip : Take the time to write a solid subject line and/or working headline when you pitch an op-ed. And get to the point as quickly as possible. And check the list of TIME editors to pitch the right person. The general contact rule is [email protected]

The Washington Post opinion section features local, national, and international op-eds about a wide variety of topics. Take a look at past op-eds and you’ll see opinions and viewpoints about the presidential primaries, the coronavirus, fake news frustrations, and many other trending topics.

Tip:  The site recommends submitting an op-ed for consideration using the online form. You’ll need to write the complete op-ed for consideration, and keep it under 750 words. But you can also target your pitch to a specific person from this list of opinion editors at The Washington Post.

Pays: Up to $1,500 per op-ed, depends on assignment

There is no need for specialty expertise or credentials, but experienced writers with a portfolio of published work will find it easier to convince editors of their ability to deliver strong copy on time.

  • Rates: The pay for writing opinion pieces varies widely between publications, and some only offer a byline credit. Before you invest the time to write an op-ed, find out if there’s a paying market for your piece
  • Write on spec . Unless otherwise stated in submission guidelines, most publications expect you to submit a completed op-ed on spec, meaning you’ll only get paid for the piece if it’s accepted or published
  • Beware of the black hole . It’s the submission form or generic editor@ email address so many pubs point you to submit an op-ed. In most cases, you should be able to find a way to contact the opinion editor directly by email or social media
  • Networking opportunities. Getting paid to share your opinion is nice. However, sharing your opinion isn’t the only reason to write opinion pieces. If you’re trying to make a name for yourself as the  freelancer in your niche, consider writing an op-ed or guest post (usually for free), and use it as a networking opportunity to connect with prospects
  • 16 more places to get paid to write op-eds . Curious about more markets that pay for op-ed writing, viewpoints and essays? Check out this list

Op-ed writing isn’t likely to become the bread and butter of your freelance business. But there are plenty of opportunities to get paid to write about issues and topics you’re passionate about.

Cat Woods is a freelance journalist based in Melbourne, Australia.

Grow your Writing Income. Freelancewritersden.com

This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.

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Get Paid to Write: 23 Sites That Pay Freelancers $100+

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In this list of sites that pay freelance writers, we’ve identified new markets we haven’t featured before. And even though these sites represent a variety of different niches, they all have one thing in common.

These are sites that pay $100 or more for blog posts, articles, essays, tutorials, and other types of writing assignments.

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Carlos Lozada

I Read These Books So You Don’t Have To

An illustration of half a dozen books rowing a ship with an American flag, in imitation of Gen. George Washington crossing the Delaware.

By Carlos Lozada

Opinion Columnist and co-host of “Matter of Opinion”

President Biden had a far better comeback at his disposal this month when he took offense at a special counsel report that suggested he didn’t remember which year his son Beau died. He’d already delivered that alternative response in “Promise Me, Dad,” the memoir he published in 2017 about his son’s illness and death.

“This story was not an easy one for me to tell,” Biden writes in the acknowledgments. “There were many days I found it difficult to go back and revisit this time period; and my memories of events were sometimes foggy. There were a number of people I counted on to help me with recall, with the reconstruction chronologies, and with encouragement.”

It’s an understandable explanation for how the mind can obscure memories of family trauma. Instead, Biden went with “it wasn’t any of their damn business.” If only he’d reread his book first.

I’ve been a Washington journalist for nearly 25 years, yet I’ve never trailed members of Congress around the Capitol, interviewed the faithful at a campaign rally or exposed the misdeeds of a corrupt politician. Instead, I interpret Washington by reading it.

I read political histories and manifestoes. I pore over centuries-old essays and decades-old special counsel reports . I scour Supreme Court decisions and the footnotes of congressional investigations. I read lots of books about American politics, and, yes, plenty of books by politicians and government officials. I read the glossy biographies peddled by wannabe presidential contenders and the revisionist memoirs of former notables. I read tell-all books by midlevel White House staffers and tell-some books by presidents, vice presidents, senators and F.B.I. directors.

I’ve explored these texts for the past decade, first as a book critic for The Washington Post and now as an opinion columnist for The Times. When people learn that I make a living by reading books about politics — rather than, say, discovering the next Great American Novel — I often get a look of pity, followed by some variation on this line:

Wow, you read those books so we don’t have to.

The assumption behind this response is clear: These books must be terrible, either bureaucratic tomes or self-serving, ghostwritten propaganda. “Does Anyone Actually Read Presidential Campaign Books?” The Washington Post asked in a 2022 opinion essay . The commentator Chris Matthews once admitted that Washingtonians themselves don’t really read such books. Instead, they give them what he calls the “Washington read” — a quick skim, a lone chapter or just an optimistic search through the index. In 2020, a reviewer in The Times even suggested that my dedication to reading so many contemporary political books constituted “an act of transcendent masochism.”

Of course, there are some wretched Washington books. I’ve encountered plenty. But I want to make the case for the Washington book. I believe in the Washington book. And that’s because, no matter how carefully politicians sanitize their experiences and records, no matter how diligently they present themselves in the most electable or confirmable light, they always end up revealing themselves. They may not want to, but they can’t help it. In these books, they tell us who they are; they expose their fears, self-perceptions and unresolved contradictions.

It might be a throwaway line here, a recurring phrase there, or a single paragraph in the acknowledgments — but it’s in there somewhere. And that means that even these supposedly terrible books can be illuminating and essential.

You don’t need to rely on the Washington read. You just need to know how to read the Washington book.

President Barack Obama is one politician who might have made his living as a writer, and now kind of does. I’ve read “Dreams From My Father,” “The Audacity of Hope” and his first White House memoir, “A Promised Land.” There is plenty to learn in all three, even if “Dreams” remains the best of the lot. (It’s a law of presidential memoirs: The more distant a book from the author’s time in the White House, the better it is.) But when I think about Obama’s story, I often come back to a detail that appears not in one of his own books, but in “Power Forward: My Presidential Education,” the memoir by Reggie Love, his former personal aide.

In the book, Love recalls in passing the time he forgot Obama’s briefcase before a flight, when they were headed to a Democratic debate in 2007. He worried he might be fired, but Obama gave him another chance. Love mentions one reason Obama was annoyed about the missing bag. It turns out, the senator liked to be seen carrying something when he got off a plane. As Obama told Love, “J.F.K. carried his own bags.”

That one line is what I remember most from this memoir, indeed, from many Obama-era volumes. It reveals how carefully Obama cultivated his public persona, and how he drew inspiration from one of our most mythologized past presidents to shape the image of a future one. “Power Forward” was one of the first books I reviewed when I became The Post’s nonfiction critic in 2015. If I’d started that job a few weeks later, I might have missed it — and I’m so glad I didn’t.

It was impossible to miss Donald Trump, or his books, later that year. If you had read a sampling of them at the beginning of his campaign, as I did , you would not have been surprised by the presidency that followed. Shocked, perhaps, but not surprised. The bragging and insecurity, the insults and vindictiveness, the ease with deceit and contradiction — it was all right there, a reminder that even ghostwritten works provide plenty of truth. In the case of “Trump: The Art of the Deal,” the ghostwriter, Tony Schwartz, did not go through the typical process of conducting in-depth interviews with his subject because, as he told The New Yorker years later, Trump couldn’t sit still or focus long enough to share his life story. Instead, Schwartz fashioned Trump’s story by following him around the office and listening in on his phone calls, an approach that most likely captures Trump as well as any.

Trump loves to bring up that first memoir — “we need a leader who wrote ‘The Art of the Deal,’” he declared in the 2015 speech announcing his presidential candidacy — but it’s a different Trump book that, to me, captures him especially well. In “How to Get Rich,” published in 2004, Trump provides a lengthy passage about his hair, but it doubles as a damning admission about his life. “The reason my hair looks so neat all the time is because I don’t have to deal with the elements very often,” Trump says. “I live in the building where I work. I take an elevator from my bedroom to my office. The rest of the time, I’m either in my stretch limousine, my private jet, my helicopter or my private club in Palm Beach, Fla. … If I happen to be outside, I’m probably on one of my golf courses, where I protect my hair from overexposure by wearing a golf hat.”

Political reporters say that the White House traps presidents in a bubble. But Trump lived in a bubble of his own making long before he came to Washington. In a soliloquy about his mane, Trump shows us his deliberately constructed isolation.

Sometimes a book unwittingly emphasizes the central tension of a politician’s ambitions. Here I’m thinking of Hillary Clinton’s 1996 manifesto, “It Takes a Village,” published during her time as first lady. I did not read it at the time, but I picked it up in 2016, during her second quest for the presidency. In the book, I found two Hillary Clintons doing battle: one with progressive instincts on matters like health care policy, the other with a conservative streak on issues surrounding sex and family. She says that both government and the individual “must be part of the solution” and that “most of us would describe ourselves as ‘middle of the road’ — liberal in some areas, conservative in others, moderate in most.”

Her 2016 campaign proved just the right time to read the book. In a debate with Senator Bernie Sanders, among others, Clinton was asked whether she was progressive or moderate, and she responded that she was a progressive — “but a progressive who likes to get things done.” This caveated centrism, this combination of principle and expediency, helps explain why Clinton was so often perceived as too establishment for the left and too big-government progressive for the right. The book gave me the context I needed to interpret that moment, and to understand Clinton’s struggle to reach the White House.

When you’re reading a Washington book, look for omissions and repetitions. In his 2022 memoir, “So Help Me God,” Mike Pence quotes extensively from Trump’s video message on Jan. 6, 2021, when the president finally called on his supporters to leave the Capitol — except, as I pointed out in these pages, Pence leaves out the lines in which Trump reiterated his nonexistent electoral victory. Even when describing the day rioters were calling for his hanging, Pence still massages the facts to make Trump look better. And in her 2019 memoir , “The Truths We Hold,” Kamala Harris, then a U.S. senator from California, frequently decries “false choices,” like the choice between supporting law enforcement and holding police accountable, or between the rights of U.S. citizens and of undocumented immigrants. It may sound quite sage, but it also captures Harris’s preference to stay on both sides of difficult questions.

Reading Washington books is not always about finding the gotcha tidbit that launches a news cycle, but about stumbling upon that revelatory detail that marks someone’s beliefs or character — and then holding it to the light and to account. That these books are often deliberately vague and superficial, written in the service of careerism or mythmaking, renders that effort harder, but more satisfying, too.

I like to linger on the acknowledgments of Washington books; they are a delightful source of snubs, groveling and accidental transparency. In 2016, I reviewed the acknowledgments sections of books published by the Republican presidential field, and by far my favorite is in Marco Rubio’s memoir, “American Dreams.” The first person whom Rubio thanks by name in his acknowledgments is “my Lord, Jesus Christ, whose willingness to suffer and die for my sins will allow me to enjoy eternal life.” The second? “My very wise lawyer, Bob Barnett.”

That combination says so much about the inside-outside game that politicians play, beating their fleece vests about God in one sentence and paying homage to a capital power broker in the other. It’s the Washington addendum to Pascal’s wager: Trust in God, but just in case, keep a good lawyer in your text threads.

There is another kind of Washington book, written not by individuals trying to shape their own stories but by institutions telling our collective story. Landmark documents like the Senate report on Watergate, the 9⁄11 Commission report, the Kerner Commission report on urban riots in the late 1960s and the Jan. 6 committee report are essential Washington texts. Together, they form an unofficial historical record, capturing America at its most traumatized moments. They deserve to be read, not just discussed in absentia.

There are two sets of documents, opposed yet intertwined, that capture the role these texts can play in our civic life. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the C.I.A. embarked on a program of “enhanced interrogation” of terrorism suspects in clandestine sites around the world. And to do this, the Office of Legal Counsel of the Justice Department issued a series of memos, between 2002 and 2005, approving the techniques. These memos were revealed in the press and later published as a book, “The Torture Memos: Rationalizing the Unthinkable.”

Reading them is excruciating; it is also vital. They show what our government can do in our name and in the name of our security. Few Washington documents have seared themselves in my memory like the torture memos, with their dry, clinical prose. (“We have no information from the medical experts you have consulted that the limited duration for which the individual is kept in boxes causes any substantial physical pain,” reads a typical passage.)

We know so much about what the C.I.A. did in part from another Washington document, which appeared years later: the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into the C.I.A.’s post-Sept. 11 interrogation programs. The executive summary, published as a 549-page book in 2014, found that torture did not generate useful intelligence, that the interrogation sessions were even harsher than the C.I.A. acknowledged and that the spy agency impeded oversight of its actions.

The brutality endorsed by one series of documents is exposed and condemned in another. Washington books embody our failures, but also our efforts to atone.

The congressional or special counsel reports documenting Washington scandals are worth reading today, too, not just as historical reference points or snapshots of past misdeeds and obsessions, but also as warnings to future generations, including our own. “The failure to punish governmental lawbreakers feeds the perception that public officials are not wholly accountable for their actions,” Lawrence Walsh, the special counsel who investigated the Iran-contra scandal, wrote in his 1993 report. “It also may lead the public to believe that no real wrongdoing took place.” It’s a useful reminder just three years after the assault on the U.S. Capitol.

I like to revisit the report of the Senate committee investigating Watergate, which appeared 50 years ago. “Law is not self-executing,” wrote Sam Ervin, the North Carolina Democrat and committee chairman, in his opening statement to the report. “Unfortunately, at times its execution rests in the hands of those who are faithless to it.” And in words that should resonate across the decades, Ervin placed the burden on voters to weigh the character of the leaders we choose: “The only sure antidote for future Watergates is understanding of fundamental principles and intellectual and moral integrity in the men and women who achieve or are entrusted with governmental or political power.”

In “The Speechwriter,” published in 2015, Barton Swaim describes his time working for a Southern governor, drafting speeches, statements and letters and channeling the ideas of a boss he didn’t respect. Swaim reaches an intriguing conclusion about political rhetoric. “One hears very few proper lies in politics,” he writes. “Using vague, slippery or just meaningless language is not the same as lying: It’s not intended to deceive so much as to preserve options, buy time, distance oneself from others or just to sound like you’re saying something instead of nothing.”

To sound like you’re saying something instead of nothing. That is politicians’ specialty, which is why I parse their words and write about their books. If the art of politics is to subtract meaning from language, to produce more and more words that somehow convey less and less, then it is my mission to try to find that meaning and put it back.

I realize this journalism may seem a bit passive. After all, I’m just reading. But Washington books are about the construction of identity and self-image. They are case studies in isolation, ambition and subservience. They span conflict and compromise, high principle and low deceit. These are some of the great themes of literature and the great struggles of life, whether the life of individuals or of nations. I may not be unearthing the next Great American Novel, but by exploring these texts, I hope to fill in a bit more of the American story.

I assure you the experience is rarely masochistic. On occasion, it can even be transcendent.

This essay is adapted from the forthcoming book, “ The Washington Book : How to Read Politics and Politicians.”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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Carlos Lozada is an Opinion columnist and co-host of the weekly “Matter of Opinion” podcast for The Times, based in Washington, D.C. @ CarlosNYT

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